With a burst of torrential rain coinciding with the kick-off, Chevron Texaco sponsored Tenby United entertained Morriston at a blustery Heywood Lane on Saturday.

Morriston were paying their first visit in a long time, while the United were hoping to maintain their winning run, as well as praying that the rain would only last for minutes.

Both happened as wished for, as Tenby battled for 80 minutes against a very well organised side whose game belied their current relatively low position in the league.

Fielding as selected, with Will Crockford going down with a bout of flu on Thursday and therefore ruling himself out of selection, Tenby kicked-off with a considerable wind advantage, knowing that they would need a healthy lead come half-time if the windy conditions prevailed.

Within two minutes they scored the first of their three tries, with the impressive Sam Smith breaking from the base of a scrum and linking with scrum- half Rhys Thomas, who in turn drew the last line of defence and slipped the ball to Tom Lewis, who strolled over for a classic number eight/half-backs try. The conversion from wide out gave Tenby the ideal start they required with the first seven points in the bag.

If Tenby thought the match was going to be a cakewalk, the visitors made them think again as they spent the next five minutes camped on their line, with only last ditch tackles preventing Morriston from opening their account.

The bout of sustained pressure eventually yielded its reward, however, when the impressive James Horner slotted over a penalty to close the score to 7-3.

This reverse was the nudge Tenby needed to get back into contention and grasp the initiative, and this they did, with Tom Lewis expertly using the wind to get his side deep into the visitors' half. Alex Jenkins disrupted their throw and quick ball from the ensuing ruck saw the Tenby threes spin the ball wide, stretching the visitors' defence, only for a dropped ball to allow Morriston to break away. Fortunately, the covering Tom Dennis and Arthur M-M put in some brave tackles to stop this from resulting in a score.

A needless penalty, however, presented the next scoring opportunity, which Horner gratefully accepted as he stroked over his second kick to narrow the scores to 7-6.

This score was quickly followed by penalty number three and a lead of seven points had been reversed, with Morriston deservedly getting their noses in front at 9-7, with the weather conditions to be in their favour come the second half.

Despite several excursions into the visitors' half, referee Davies blew for the interval, with coach Kenny Davies unhappy about the inconsistency being shown by the official as well as the high penalty count against the home side. A superb catch from the off by hooker Nicky Guymer drew a penalty from Morriston as they climbed all over the resulting ruck and a quick tap and go by the alert Arthur M-M, who linked with high-stepping wing Tom Dennis, took play deep into the visitors' half.

The next bout of attacking play ended when centre Mark Heywood got isolated and Horner was unlucky as he saw his penalty attempt from the halfway line strike the upright and bounce straight to Tom Dennis, who cleared the danger. Alex Jenkins yet again disrupted the visitors' throw- in and good supporting play by the rest of the pack gave scrum-half Thomas time to feed Lewis, who guided a clever low kick into the wind to take Tenby deep into Morriston territory.

A speculative high kick from Horner was well fielded by wing Dennis, who caused absolute panic in the Morriston defence as he ran straight through and skilfully linked with the powerful Sam Smith, who continued to make inroads into the visitors' half, only for yet another penalty to be awarded, allowing Morriston to clear.

This respite was short-lived as Tenby, again through some superb kicking against the blustery wind by Tom Lewis, gained a foothold on the visitors' line, where a super catch and drive by Jenkins and his fellow forwards ended with referee Davies deciding that the ball had not been grounded as the home eight powered their way over the try line.

Not to be denied, however, the United were determined to turn this sustained bout of pressure into points and it came as no surprise when burly number eight Sam Smith broke away from the attacking scrum and set up a ruck, with the quick ball allowing the half-backs to release strong running centre Mark Heywood, who powered over under the posts.

With Lewis adding the extras, Tenby had regained the lead and the ascendancy, and slipped into a lead that they were not to relinquish.

Another good take from the restart, this time by Sam Smith, again saw Arthur M-M set-off on an attacking run, only for his pass to the supporting Mark Heywood to be deemed forward.

The vigorous defensive play being put in by the home side prompted referee Davies to yellow-card hooker Guymer and 14-man Tenby were now tested to the full by a rampant Morriston outfit, with the wind strengthening and their desire to grab a score intensifying.

To rectify the shortage in the front row, flanker Hughes was sacrificed and Mike Lewis came on as hooker.

Within a minute of the dismissal, a bout of sustained attacking yielded the desired result for Morriston when some slick handling saw their winger cross wide out, but Horner failed to add the extra two points that would have given the visitors the lead.

Locked at 14-14 with the last quarter to face, down to 14 men and playing against a strengthening wind, Tenby were up against it, but despite all this, a timely interception by alert fly-half Tom Lewis presented the opportunity to retake the lead as Morriston attempted to run the ball from deep in their half, a tactic which proved to be their undoing. A successful conversion took the score to 21-14, which turned out to be the final result.

To rub salt in the wound, the restart failed to travel the necessary 10 metres and Morriston were pegged back in their own half by some fine tactical kicking by half-backs Thomas and Lewis. When they did manage to threaten, it was centres Arthur M-M and Heywood who cut them down in flight.

With his 10 minutes in the bin served, Guymer did not rejoin the fray. Instead, coach Davies brought on Richard Rossiter and he was quickly in action in support of another rampant run by man-of-the- match Sam Smith, a move that eventually ended with a Morriston prop being yellow-carded, leaving the visitors to see out the match with 14 men.

Despite forcing Morriston to defend for much of the remainder of the game, with breaks involving Smith, Williams, Thomas and Lewis, the visitors did manage one breakaway, but a superb tackle by Mark Heywood brought the move to an abrupt end as he stole the ball in the tackle and a searing long, low kick into the wind by Lewis sent the visitors back deep into their half, where referee Davies decided enough was enough and blew for full-time. Coaching staff and players alike were well pleased with a hard-earned victory against a well-organised and coached Morriston XV, and talk back at the club, with the rugby ended, revolved around the social scene and what Tenby had to offer as well as what was in store when Tenby travel east next March. But well before that, comes the tough away encounter with high-flying Cardigan tomorrow (Saturday).

Team: Neil Powling - Tenby Auto Centre Car Sales; Jimmy Davies - Tenby Glass; Mark Heywood (capt.) - N. D. Toy & Partners Ltd, Independent Financial Advisors and Mortgage Brokers; Arthur M-M - Anne and Jeremy Rossiter, of Londis Stores, Manorbier; Tom Dennis, Tom Lewis - Rossiters Funeral Directors, of Tenby and District; Rhys Thomas - Paul Diment, of N. D. Toy; Ben Cray - Lewis, Lewis and Co., Solicitors; Nicky Guymer (Mike Lewis) - John Boot, of Lydstep; Johnny Lane (Geoff Martin) - The Bay Tree Restaurant, Tenby; Nicky Allen - Alan Jones; Alex Jenkins - Rumbleway Caravan Park; Emyr Hughes (Richard Rossiter) - Gavin and Dudley Scotcher, Capital Roasters Coffee Co.; Sam Smith - Mike Brace Home Maintenance Service; Wyndham Williams - Neil Finlay Car Sales.